Gyakugatte
by Batty Catty Pumpkin Pie
Summary: "You will never find a husband!" A Fem Naruto retelling of the Naruto story. Naruko/Harem. Reverse Harem. Naruko/Sasuke, Naruko/Kakashi, Naruko/Gaara, Naruko/Neji. Others may be added as the story progresses. Slow building romance.
1. Chapter 1

1.

The nakodo came in their final year of ninja training.

She would stay for a week. Girls were supposed to come to the Academy, in groups of four, each group of girls assigned a different day. And once there, they had to impress Nakodo-san, the village matchmaker.

"I don't get it," said Naruko to Hinata. "Kunoichi in training are supposed to take all these different classes in all of these feminine arts so that we can seduce targets out in the field. Trick them into falling in love with us, get information from them and then kill them. Hundreds of years ago, that was a female ninja's only job. Now we fight alongside the boys, too, but it's _still_ our most important job. Yet they're sending the nakodo to assess us in our final year of training? What, are not allowed to pass as kunoichi if we fail to meet up to her high, exacting standards for whether or not we'd make a good wife?"

"The nakodo would know better than anyone what men like and what they don't," Hinata pointed out. "Besides, Naruko-chan, you know this won't affect whether or not we pass as kunoichi. Suzume-sensei said so."

"The day I trust anything a teacher tells me is the day I run naked through the streets on my hands with a pair of pink silk underwear on my head," said Naruko.

"I would like to see that," said Hinata. "And realistically, you know plenty of girls in our class are planning on using their kunoichi training to seduce themselves a husband. I can think of several who are absolutely ecstatic looking forward to this week.

"You'll do fine," she told Naruko. "You're the best person I know. You won me over, remember?"

"I won you over by fighting," said Naruko. "I'm hopelessly weird and informal and Suzume-sensei hates me." And to this, Hinata had no response.

It had been a snowy January day and everyone had been signing up for classes at the Konoha Ninja Academy as young children. Most of them went onto campus that first time with their parents. Naruko went with an official from the village council. Her family had died in an attack from a forest fox demon the day she was born.

She didn't know much about them. The Hokage, leader of Konoha Hidden Village, brought her personally a check every month from the council. When she was very young, Naruko would simply accept gratefully the check placed on the kitchen table that helped her buy food. Later, she asked insistent questions, beginning to wonder about her parents and her origins.

"I know they died in the fox demon attack the day I was born, but what were they like? Who were they? What were their names?"

"Why would I tell you that?" the Hokage had asked. "It would only make you look back. Telling you would not change the past."

But next month, he brought her an old wooden chest full of ninja scrolls and a tattered scarf alongside the money.

"These scrolls are from your Uzumaki clan," he said. "Your mother's clan. You should have them. That scarf is hers. Wear it when you need to keep warm." Naruko never wore it. She kept it hung, carefully preserved and regularly taken tender care of, in a special spot within her bedroom.

The scrolls and the chest - the scrolls separated into four sections, taijutsu, ninjutsu, bloodline abilities, and seal studies - had left Naruko with more questions than answers. Why was she named after her mother's family? Who had her father been? And why were the grains and edges of the old chest riddled with sea salt, as if from ocean air? At last, when she learned to read, she learned the truth from the introductory scroll. The Uzumaki clan was not originally from Konoha's Fire Country. They were from a foreign island country called Whirlpool, named because it was surrounded by turbulent seas. Instead of living in a woodland area that caught fire easily and was full of colorful little wood and plaster buildings, Naruko was supposed to have grown up on a windy dark green island surrounded by wild ocean waters and filled with villa-like compounds. So that begged the question: Why was she here? The scrolls had no answer. When they had been written, all of the Uzumaki still lived in Whirlpool.

Perhaps her mother had been some sort of refugee. Perhaps her father was an unknown man. But Naruko didn't know. For one of the only times in her life, she went to the library, and learned that the Hidden Village of Uzu in Whirlpool Country had been destroyed in the Third Great Ninja War. Supposedly, everyone from that village was dead, including its founding Uzumaki clan. She'd used a dictionary that day as well. _Kaukokaipuu_ \- an old language foreign word for a feeling of homesickness for a place or time you've never visited. Still, the Hokage would tell her nothing. By now, at twelve, Naruko had simply stopped asking. But when she'd said all those years ago that she wanted to be a ninja, and not just for the reason of her parentage, he had sent a council official to assist her in the signup process.

Naruko had let the official sign up for her at the long table in the front entryway of the main building. She'd been surrounded by swarms of excited children clinging to their parents, asking demanding questions, the parents answering in tones of thrilled, indulging pride. _"Stay away from that girl."_ The parents had subtly pulled their children away from her.

 _"Why?"_

 _"Just do it."_

Naruko had wandered out of the front doors and into the Academy's front courtyard. Huge blankets of snow coated the grounds with strange evenness, the perfection wrought by probable gardeners marred with footsteps from fallible human beings. Large trees arched skeletal, black, snow laden branches to the skies. Naruko tramped through the snow to a wooden tree swing hanging by thick ropes from a particularly heavy tree branch. She brushed off the accumulated snow and sat down, creaking as she softly swung herself back and forth. The Konoha Ninja Academy loomed up before her, round white plaster buildings with wooden roofs and weird splashes of bright primary color, her new school - the only place she could think of that would give her the respect and status she so desperately sought.

"Your eyes are super creepy."

"You look so weird. Are you some kind of nightmare monster?"

Naruko looked around, frowning. She wasn't the only child who was out here in the cold instead of in there with the hoards of happy families. In the center of a nearby grove of trees, three boys were standing around a little girl, picking on her, jeering and calling her names as she was curled up crying in the middle of them. Their source of ire, on the surface, seemed to be her eyes, which were pupil-less and whose irises were such a blank silvery white that they were almost indistinguishable from the sclera, the white part surrounding the eye.

Naruko knew the truth, though. She'd been picked on a lot as a smaller child. If it hadn't been the eyes, it would have been something else. Shoulders hunched timidly, curled up crying quietly, this girl was an easy target.

She stomped over in between the boys and the girl, getting right up in the lead boy's face. She heard the sniffles of the girl behind her silence as the girl sucked in a sharp breath. "I can already tell what kind of ninja you three are going to be," said Naruko. "You know, true warriors attack people who can actually fight back."

The boy scoffed. "What do you know about, village freak? This girl is a Hyuuga. She can fight back. She's just not willing to."

"Not being able to fight psychologically is the same as not being able to fight physically!" Naruko snapped. "Just leave her alone, dattebayo!" It was a verbal tic. Instead of coming out when she was nervous, it came out when she was emotional.

The boy smirked. "Or you'll do what?"

"Start guessing at the size of your penis," said Naruko without pausing.

The boy's friends snickered as his face flushed. He stepped forward to throw a crashing, fast punch - and Naruko, having already trained privately for two years in her clan's special Water Weaving Fist style of taijutsu fighting, slid smoothly out of the way, flowing with speed and grace around the attack. The boy paused briefly in surprise, his fist still in the air, and she used that time to kick him really hard in the crotch. He let out a groan, bending over and falling to his knees.

"Wow," said Naruko. "I was right. It's really tiny." She looked up at the other two boys, who backed away in terror and fled. Naruko turned back around to the girl and grinned. "Oops," she said. "I'm planning not to show off any of my clan abilities at the Academy. But until I learn Academy styles of fighting, I guess I'll have to break that rule just this once."

The girl was much more traditional looking than Naruko. Naruko dressed in long blonde pigtails and a bright orange kunoichi dress; she had blue eyes and a heart-shaped, whisker-marked face and she wore pink lip gloss. From the beginning, Hinata fit the traditional idea better of what a kunoichi ninja was supposed to be. She had a pale face, short chin-length blue-black hair, striking grey eyes, she went with only very muted makeup, and she wore reserved sweaters and pants. She was quiet and demure. Naruko had never been very good at acting that way.

Naruko walked over and held out a hand to help the girl up. "You okay?"

The girl at last smiled, and took the hand. "Y-yes," she said softly. "Thank you. You saved me."

"Eh." Naruko shrugged. "You know, you need to be more confident. Stand up for yourself more. I think your eyes are cool."

"Th-thank you. They're a doujutsu. A chakra-related eye ability passed down through the Hyuuga clan generations," said Hinata shyly. Hinata had always been shy and timid, back then. She'd had a horrible stutter gained by sheer nervousness. She was more confident now. Being best friends with Uzumaki Naruko did that to a person.

"Really?" said Naruko curiously. "What can it do?"

"The Byakugan? W-well… It can see through anything and across long distances, and it has an almost 360 degree field of vision. It's connected to our clan taijutsu style, Gentle Fist - we use our Byakugan to touch a person lightly with chakra and inflict massive internal organ damage."

" _Shit_ that's cool!" said Naruko, impressed.

"I-it is?" said Hinata uncertainly.

"Hell yeah! We should totally train together sometime. My name's Uzumaki Naruko."

"Hyuuga Hinata. I haven't heard of that clan before… Uzumaki," said Hinata.

"We're refugees," said Naruko. "Well, I am. My parents are dead. I live alone, like the rest of the older orphans. Village raises me kind of thing."

"Oh!" Hinata looked humiliated. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea -"

"I don't remember them," said Naruko. "I guess that makes it less horrible. I don't know. At the same time, I guess I've always really wondered what it would feel like to have a family - you know, to have people worth losing. Wow! That got depressing really fast!" Naruko laughed with nervousness. "Let's talk about something more cheerful! I bet we'll be in the same Academy class; all the students here will be. Don't worry, I'll protect you from those clods and that's a promise, dattebayo! Do you think -?"

"Hinata-sama!"

The two of them whirled around. A man Naruko would learn later was Hinata's clan retainer for the day, a tall dark-haired man with silvery Hyuuga eyes, was standing there, furious and thunderstruck.

"Y-yes?" said Hinata, puzzled but instinctively cringing at any sign of anger. It was a very peculiar mix on her round face.

"You must not speak to this thing! Come with me!" He stormed over and hurried her away, even as Hinata struggled, looking back over her shoulder.

"But - wait - she saved me -!"

"It doesn't matter. _Come_."

Hinata and Naruko shared one last look before Hinata was pulled out of sight. Hinata looked stricken and confused. Naruko gazed after them distantly, solemn and resigned, a little bit sad. That had been nice - talking to someone like she was just some other girl.

Hinata and Naruko didn't talk again for three months. Naruko assumed Hinata was now afraid of her, wanting nothing to do with her. She would learn later that Hinata had been too humiliated to talk to her, afraid Naruko would be angry that she'd let herself be pulled away so easily.

But when Hinata was being picked on again one spring morning out in the courtyard by the same bullies, same area too, Naruko charged forward again and this time she didn't screw around. She used an Academy taijutsu move to slide underneath the lead bully, kicking his feet out from under him. He fell to the ground with a yelp and Naruko landed with a skid in front of Hinata.

Having already had a detailed schematic for one taijutsu style, it had not been hard for her to learn another. She stood and made a come-forward motion, smirking. The other two boys charged, and in a series of swift punches and kicks, she had them on the ground. Then she grabbed them up, one in each arm, and tossed them on top of their buddy across the wooded clearing.

"And _stay_ away!" she yelled after them. "How many times do I have to do this, gentlemen?" They groaned in a pile several feet away. Naruko turned around to Hinata, but her stomach was jumpy and unsettled. She tried for a smile. "I did make a promise, didn't I?"

Hinata stood, her tears fading, surprised. "You're - you're not angry with me?"

"You're not angry with me?" Naruko echoed, equally bewildered.

They looked at each other, and laughed.

"So what's wrong?" Naruko asked as they walked together toward the Academy building. "You seemed upset even before those guys came over. That's why they singled you out. I would have gone over to you, but I didn't think you wanted to talk to me."

"Oh. I'm pathetically weak," said Hinata, downcast. "Not fit for the Hyuuga clan. My father just made me fight my little sister. She's clan heiress now. Not me."

"Oh. Well… I can't do anything about your family… in fact, it's probably a good idea if they never know you talk to me," Naruko admitted. "I'm not well liked in Konoha. I don't really know why, and none of the other kids seem to either. I think I might be illegitimate. That's why I have my mother's name. But… hey. My offer to train together still stands. I mean, I'm pretty merciless in spars, and I haven't had any more luck making friends than you seem to have. I have no one to fight with."

She'd offered friendship and been rejected so many times by fearful children, she'd mostly just said it to make sure she knew it could never have happened. But Hinata paused, and then smiled. "Yes, Naruko-chan," she said. "You seem strong. I would like to train and get stronger with you."

"I seem strong? I'm not even the best in the class. My academic grades suck and I can't do a single Academy ninjutsu."

"But you never give up, even when you do something badly. You may not be the strongest in the class, Naruko-chan, but that kind of strength can be taught. You have the kind of strength that can't be."

* * *

The girls in Naruko's group gathered in the long hallway outside the kunoichi classroom on the appointed day. She was with Hinata, Yamanaka Ino, and Haruno Sakura.

"God, Naruko, do you not even get the point of what today's all about?" Ino asked, exasperated.

"What do you mean?" Naruko asked.

"Just look at the way she's dressed," Sakura whispered, disgusted and horrified.

They were supposed to be in traditional kimono, but Naruko had decided to do hers a bit differently. She was wearing a _furisode_ style kimono of white and red chrysanthemums on an orange background. Her obi sash was colored shocking pink with a black dragon motif. She wore clogs, _kabuki_ face makeup, and a lilac wig decorated with bright yellow and pink _kanzashi_ hair ornaments.

"It took me three weeks to make this outfit. I had to do it by hand," said Naruko. "It's avant garde."

"It's _weird_ ," Sakura mandated, glaring. "What kind of boy is going to find you attractive, looking like that?" Sakura and Ino were, Naruko suspected, two of the girls Hinata had been talking about when she'd said some among their number would try to seduce their way into finding husbands. They never ate lunch in an effort to keep themselves looking perfect, a cardinal sin in Naruko's world. She didn't trust anyone who didn't eat food and enjoy it.

"I'm not looking for a boy to find me attractive," said Naruko. "And neither is Hinata-chan, dattebayo!"

"Yeah, but Hinata's from a huge, wealthy clan who will clan who will _definitely_ find a marriage for her," said Ino. "You need this today in a way she doesn't. She's also dressed normally." Ino assumed, because Naruko displayed no clan abilities, that she had none. But the fact did remain: Naruko's clan was dead.

Hinata was a perfect contrast. Her kimono was a soft white with a silvery obi, decorated with sprigs of quiet flowers and snowflake patterns. Her dark hair longer all these years later, it was tied back in a bun frosted with a single, tasteful bejewelled comb to decorate. Her makeup was more obvious than usual, but still subtle and traditional.

"Ignore them, Naruko-chan," said Hinata with dignity, looking out the window as if Sakura and Ino simply didn't exist. "You look fine."

"What, you think you're better than us, Hyuuga?" Ino demanded.

"I think I am nothing. I am Zen," said Hinata, and Naruko snickered.

Just then, the classroom door slid open to reveal Suzume-sensei, a mannish but elegant woman with frizzy black hair, a square chin line, a carved face, and glasses. "Girls, Nakodo-san is ready for y -" She saw Naruko and took a deep breath, nostrils flaring. "Naruko."

"Yes?"

Suzume-sensei seemed to contemplate saying something. They could practically see it in her eyes as she decided the futility of it. She sighed and stepped aside. "Come right in."

They entered the kunoichi arts classroom. Cooking stations were in one half of this room, a dance floor with a mirror in the middle, and work tables with chairs in the other half. There was an adjacent room that mirrored a teahouse, meant for tea ceremony. The girls all took seats at the tables. Nakodo-san stood at the head of the room, her face carved from stone. She had a bun of grey hair; dark, humble clothes; and strict, severe, lined features. Her eyes lingered, for a moment, on Naruko.

"You all know why I am here, and who I am," Nakodo-san said, when they had all sat and waited for some time in uneasy, nervous silence. "I arrange marriages between men and women - _miai_ ceremonies. _Ren'ai kekkon,_ love marriage, is a relatively recent invention. But _miai_ is not its opposite. During a _miai_ process, two people are matched together by a _nakodo_ , or matchmaker - such as myself - because it is thought they would suit each other. They date and court for a while, and if they find they like each other, they get married. If not, they go their separate ways and search for other partners.

"As you know, we also live in a polygamous society. Monogamy is a relatively recent invention as well, though it is allowed. It used to be that only men could have multiple wives, but now, in the modern day, women can also have many husbands.

"I am here to encourage you to consider the older ways of doing things. They still have merit."

Naruko saw Sakura and Ino's expressions. Both seemed determined never to go by the old ways of doing things. Whether they were simply jealous, had imbibed far too much modern romance, or both was a matter up for debate.

Hinata had raised her hand. "You say a woman may have multiple husbands. What if she wants to have children with those husbands? Is she just supposed to get pregnant countless times?"

Naruko listened curiously.

"There is modern technology, a relatively recent medical invention, which we recommend that answers that need," said Nakodo-san. "They exist in hospitals, and are known simply as bubbles. The DNA of two people is mixed together and through a chakra-related process by a medic nin a fetus is created inside a small golden bubble, hooked up to chakra machines, which provide it with nourishment. The parents can visit the hospital and watch their child grow inside the bubble, in a great room along with countless others. When nine months has passed, the child is released and is handed over to the parents. This method of childbirth is also recommended for same sex couples, which are similarly socially allowed."

"I had never heard of that," said Suzume thoughtfully.

"It's only come out in the past ten years," said Nakodo-san, giving her a single nod. "But most villages, Hidden or not, now have such facilities. It spread quickly. It is understandably popular. Women with physical risks associated with pregnancy can now have children as well, as can supposedly infertile women and men. And having a child without a partner or spouse has never been easier.

"So!" Nakodo-san clapped her hands and everyone started. "We will not be going through a complete run of your kunoichi abilities. That would take days just for these four women. You have been learning tea ceremony, flower arrangement, incense burning, shamisen playing, dancing, cooking, traditional fashion, and calligraphy, just to name some of your subjects. Along with the more cerebral subjects of games, conversation, flirtation, flattering, and studying the culture and psychology of chosen targets.

"But I would like to make an assessment of each of you as women. Part of it, I have done already, through your chosen outfits for today." Her eyes wandered once around the room. Naruko's palms sweated, her hands clenched underneath the table. Sakura and Ino were smirking. "But I have been told you all have prepared a flower arrangement and a brief, informal style tea ceremony for me. I will look over your arrangements, and then you will each in turn show me your tea ceremony skills - and that includes your cooking.

"I will then tell you what kind of man would suit you."

Suzume-sensei brought out their flower arrangements and set them on tables. Each girl stood next to their individual table. They were supposed to stand still and demure, with their hands folded. Naruko kept fidgeting despite herself.

Nakodo-san told Sakura that with her quiet, muted, cerebral manner she would suit a louder and more flirtatious man, while Ino with her loud, warm, flirtatious manner was told she would suit a quieter, colder man. Sakura and Ino glared at one another, Ino looking smug. Sakura and Ino shared a mutual crush, each determined to have him individually in a modern love marriage, and he was quiet and cold. That was the desired man. He was a slim, dark-haired pretty boy, too, making it worse. Sakura and Ino were _me-har_ \- fangirls.

Hinata was told that with her traditional, delicate, elegant flower arrangement she deserved "only the best - a highly refined man." Ino and Sakura glared at potential competition because their crush, Uchiha Sasuke, was from one of the most important families in the village. Hinata remained refined and dignified, saying nothing and continuing to pretend Sakura and Ino did not exist.

Then Nakodo-san arrived in front of Naruko's flower arrangement, and she stared at it without moving. It was Moribana Slanting Style, _gyakugatte_ \- which meant the reverse of the usual in _ikebana_ , or flower arrangement. Everything was flipped exactly around from the way it was supposed to be.

Black smoke tree branches with dark leaves were in one long, shaped grouping, arranged in a slant that doubled as a circular arch formation over the edge of the vase. A single rose hung over the edge of the vase in the center of the smoke tree branches. The vase itself was an old repurposed bluish glass milk bottle. Greenish pond scum pebbles lay in the water layer at the bottom.

Nevertheless, everything was anatomically perfect. Naruko had put a lot of effort into this, buying the plant materials herself; she'd made sure of it. At a ninety degree angle with the _kenzan_ , the instrument holding the arrangement in place, as the bottom center, _hikae_ was at 45 degrees, _shin_ was at 15, and _soe_ was at 75. The branches were perfect, plants filling the spaces in between. To the surface eye, everything looked grouped together, but the arrangement was actually done to exact specifications and Naruko was proud of it.

Then she saw Nakodo-san's cold glare and became less certain. This might not be good. Nakodo-san - she was one of the many who didn't like Naruko for reasons that had nothing to do… well, with Naruko. Naruko could spot that look from a mile away.

"Well," said Nakodo-san, "this is interesting. What exactly is it supposed to be?"

"It's -" Naruko began.

"That was a rhetorical question," said Nakodo-san, and she moved on without saying anything. "Tea ceremony comes next," she tossed back over her shoulder. "I will give you my final assessment privately at the end of your brief ceremony." And she walked without looking into the adjacent room.

The next two hours were torture. Naruko talked and talked on a high plane of anxiety until Ino finally told her to shut up. She fidgeted when she knelt, paced when she didn't. "Polite girls sit quietly and obediently!" Suzume-sensei barked once, fed up, but Naruko had never been good at that either.

She was finally called in last, and did her ceremony as perfectly as she could, zoned in on the moment of physical performance. She smiled cheerfully, talked warmly when she spoke, and made it through her tea ceremony - both the first portion, the meal, and then the second portion, the actual drinking of both the thick and the thin powdered _matcha_ green tea in a humble dark bowl. She knelt and served, answered questions, whisked tea, bowed as she handed it over. She did everything she was supposed to during the break between part one and part two, from cleaning the tea room to replacing the hanging scroll with a _chabana_ flower arrangement, and rang the gong to allow Nakodo-san back into the room for the tea drinking portion.

She thought she had it made. But since this ceremony was supposed to reveal their personality, she'd added her own personal touches. The meal was all warm, filling soul foods, including a light curry with mango and honey to sweeten, a cold noodle salad filled with fruits and vegetables, and some light fried finger foods that were typically good for sandwiches. And she'd gone for an underwater mythology theme in the symbols painted on her utensils, in the types of flowers she'd chosen, and in the hanging scroll. The flowers were water lilies, arranged as they were found in nature as per _chabana_ rules, while the hanging scroll showed an ink painting of _Ryūgū-jō,_ the undersea palace of _Ryujin,_ the dragon god of the sea. The symbols painted on the utensils were orange - her favorite color - and were alternately _kappas,_ water demons, and the trademark Uzumaki swirl symbol. Water was the Uzumaki element, so it was what she felt most confident and at-home in. As for the typical tea ceremony foods, well they wouldn't fill a person up at all, she felt! Something more substantial was needed!

At the end of the ceremony, she sat and waited. Nakodo-san raised an eyebrow. "What is it, Uzumaki? You can go," she said as if this should be obvious.

"But… you didn't tell me what type of man will like me yet," said Naruko, confused.

Nakodo-san sighed. "Uzumaki-san," she said, "we both know you are never getting married. You will never find a husband. You are bizarre, you misunderstand the point of formality, and in any case no one wants you. The evidence of your strangeness is clear to see. Even now, you don't desire romance the way the others do. Deep down, even you know you are different. It is why I saved you for last. You, more than any other girl in your class, are the most pointless for me to analyze."

Naruko suddenly stood, her eyes burning like stinging fires. "It doesn't matter!" she snapped. "I'm going to become the Hokage someday, dattebayo, and then you'll be sorry!"

Nakodo-san raised an eyebrow. "Many of your classmates beat you in grades. And in any case, women don't become Hokages. They become advisors. You may go."

Naruko clenched her teeth. "If women don't become Hokages," she snapped, "then I will be the first!" And she stormed out of the tea room.

"Naruko -!" Hinata started, standing, everyone outside looking rather alarmed at the shouting, but Naruko slammed out the classroom door past them and hurried away. She was halfway off campus when she heard someone else call her name, and looked around instinctively.

Her shinobi arts teacher, Iruka, a ponytailed young man with a scar across his nose, was hurrying up behind her. "Naruko -! What's wrong?" He paused, staring at her. Naruko realized she was crying.

"Oh." She wiped away the tears, laughing lightly. "Nothing!"

"In any case, we need to advise soon," said Iruka sternly, glaring. He never treated her any better than the others did. He said she smiled too much, laughed too loudly, talked too constantly. "The final graduation exam into the forces is coming in a month. Your chakra control is horrible, your clone technique is still a mess, your academic grades are poor, and you have no clan skills!"

Only the last was untrue. Naruko had a bloodline ability of her own, but it felt more like a curse. Extremely large chakra coils were her dubious gift, making any technique requiring very little chakra - like the Academy techniques - extraordinarily harder. As for the academic grades, she didn't know. She supposed she was just stupid.

"Sure, Iruka-sensei," she muttered, trudging off campus. The streets were not any easier, the dirt roads lined with trees and colorful little rounded plaster buildings. People glared, hissed, spat at her from a distance - the adults anyway. The children, not understanding but imbibing, merely sneered. That same cold stare. It was everywhere.

 _Bakemono,_ adults called her when no children were around. Monster. Naruko always read that as "illegitimate." "Not supposed to be here." "Orphan."

In a rare show of cowardice, Naruko had retreated from the village proper years ago, and had the council build her a personal house on the outskirts, next to the great wooden village wall. So she did what came naturally - she disappeared, retreated, into the surrounding woodland. Into the trees.

Only there did she let the tears fully fall. Sometimes, she felt she was a forest fox demon herself, the woodlands her home.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Most Naruto-world technology is modern, as is evidenced by the liberal use of photography. Transportation and weapons are the only major exceptions. Laptops surface directly once, and it's mentioned in another place within the series that ninja even have modern non-work clothes. While a ninja's job is traditional, their personal life is not, and I tried to present that here. If you have a problem with this, take it up with Masashi Kishimoto, with his manga staff, and with the anime writers who decided to base an entire movie around a fictional live-action movie. Some parts of this chapter will be traditional feudal Japan, some will not. I encourage you to give the chapter a chance, however. I tried to integrate nicely.

* * *

2.

Naruko's home was simple. A one story wooden abode, it was set in the middle of a man-made forest clearing, the spruce, fir, oak, beech, and broadleaf evergreens chopped away to make room for a small house and a surrounding garden. Most forests carried either spruce and fir, or oak and beech, or broadleaf evergreens. But the First Hokage, who built Konoha, had chakra related power over trees and wood and it was thought that the chakra infused in the very earth surrounding Konoha had begun growing trees from all sorts of different climates. Hence, the village name Konoha - Leaf. Naruko knew this. She knew everything about nature, forestry, and plants.

The forest was silent, cool, and dim, the trees shading walkers from the heat of the sun, and Naruko traveled up the dirt path through the groves of trees surrounding her house and into the clearing holding the house itself. Sometimes she left the sliding screen doors open at night, especially during hot summers, so she could hear the crickets chirping in the evening air from her pallet, the sound lulling her to sleep.

She used the stepping stones through the garden, hopping from stone to stone so she didn't ruin her precious plants, and climbed up onto the porch. She kicked off her clogs and put them next to her regular shinobi sandals. She slid back the door and entered the house.

It was covered in splattered wall murals she had painted herself. One entire wall was covered in darts and paint balloons for paint balloon art. Seal studies and Uzumaki scrolls littered the apartment, as did homemade science experiments in varying states of disarray. The kitchen was well stocked with food. On one wall, in pride of place, was a photo of Naruko and Hinata at a birthday celebration of Naruko's. They were doing blown glass art and painting it at an art studio.

Naruko went to her bedroom, feeling downcast and defeated by the day. She took off her wig, wiped away the makeup, slid out of the kimono. She tied her blonde hair up in its usual pigtails, applied a fresh coat of pink lip gloss, got back into her bright orange kunoichi dress and strapped the weapons holster onto her leg.

She contemplated gazing miserably in the mirror and wondering what was wrong with her, but decided that would be too angsty. Instead, she took up her gardening tools and traveled out to the garden around her house. There was no gardener - she cared for the entire traditional garden herself.

Traditional gardens, instead of being artificially shaped, were created to highlight the natural landscape. There was something very spiritual and philosophical about it, crafting a garden as it was supposed to be, not as one wanted it to be - something almost Zen. Gardens were also supposed to be in contact with Shinto nature spirits, so the landscape being natural was very important. That was why she had named her gardens after spirits, each sharing the first sound "ah": the front garden was _Ameonna_ , a female spirit who brought plentiful rain; the back garden was _Aosaginohi_ , a luminescent heron spirit in the hopes that twittering birds would frequent the quiet of the forest and her garden; the pond in the back garden was _Amabie,_ a mermaid _yokai._

She clapped her hands before the gardens. "Alright, Ameonna-san, Aosaginohi-san, Amabie-san! Let's get to work, dattebayo!"

The pond was a mini lake, really. It was surrounded by rocks that appeared to have been eroded by waves, a sandy beach, and it was overhung by a pine tree representing longevity, in "ocean style." There was a tiny island in the middle to represent Mount Horai, the traditional home of the Eight Immortals, the island itself a "cloud island," made of white sand in the rounded white form of a cumulus cloud. There was a miniature cascade coming from a nearby well and flowing into the lake, water draining out back into the well through a tiny hole in the bottom of the lake and then through a filter. The cascade fell over countless rocks and it faced toward the moon, designed to capture the moon's reflection in the water. The water entered from the east and carried into the west, which was thought to produce good luck. Mythologically, the Green Dragon was in the east, while the White Tiger was in the west.

There were smooth, flat stepping stones leading a careful, winding path through both the front garden and the back garden. Stone lanterns stood as silent sentinels on stone poles lining the paths through both the front and back garden, lit by automatic electricity at night. They were surrounded by greenery, with the entire garden in turn surrounded by white sand, a barrier between the garden and the trees beyond. A tiny wood painted bridge in both gardens arched over the sand, so one could easily travel from the garden and into the forest, or back.

But the greenery of the gardens themselves, the layer of moss and the dotted trees and flowers, were what took the most gardening care. Naruko had already talked the Hokage into paying for a professional gardener when she went off on ninja missions in the future, because she would entrust no less with her precious gardens.

Everything was carefully chosen: the trees for their autumn colors, the flowers by their season of flowering, everything arranged to look as natural as possible. She had a bed of lotus flowers in the front garden, the lotus being sacred in Buddhist teachings. The cherry trees looked beautiful in spring, and she would invite Hinata over for a tea ceremony outside during the spring time. The apricot tree provided fresh fruit in late spring and early summer. Trees were trimmed atop a ladder, their growth controlled to give them more picturesque shapes. Azalea bushes were trimmed into ball shapes. There were a series of bamboo trees in a half circle lining one side of the front garden. Grass was mowed away, moss was tended to, weeds were pulled up, each flower and each plant given exactly what it needed with tender care.

Naruko spent hours every week knelt, bent over, her hands in the earth, or up in a tree trimming this or that. She would hum and talk to the plants while she was working away at them. Her gardens were her pride and joy, her greatest point of beauty around the home.

She was knelt in front of the lotus bed, digging away with her trowel and applying fresh soil, when Hinata's voice came from behind her. "So you're going to garden your problems away?"

Naruko looked around. Hinata had come over the bridge and up behind her silently. She was one of the only people in the world who knew by heart where Naruko lived. She was now dressed in regular clothes as well, sweater and pants, her long dark hair loose around her. Her pale face was solemn.

"Ameonna-san's lotus flowers needed some nurturing," said Naruko, putting down her trowel and wiping her hands.

Hinata sighed, walked over, and knelt down beside her. "What did Nakodo-san say that upset you so much?"

Naruko swallowed. "She said… that I was too weird ever to attract a man. That I would never find one. And I know I don't even like any boys anyway, and I know I said I didn't care, and I know I expected this kind of result, and I know I don't need a man to get a hitai-ate ninja marker band or become the Hokage and gain the village's acknowledgment. But -"

"But it still hurt. No twelve year old girl wants to hear that," said Hinata, nodding. "Yeah.

"She's wrong, you know," Hinata added unexpectedly. "You have a way about you, Naruko-chan. You'll win somebody over. You won't spend the rest of your life alone."

Naruko sighed and stood. "Well," she said flatly, "it's not looking good so far, is it?"

Hinata stood as well. "Enough of this gloominess," she said firmly. "I came here to suggest a karaoke and DDR night at Ichiraku's?"

Naruko paused, and smiled. "That sounds good," she said. "I really do need to blow off some steam. Being miserable and not having any fun is no good."

"I thought you might feel that way," Hinata replied with equal good cheer.

* * *

Ichiraku's was a small local ramen joint in downtown Konoha, one that served every type of ramen imaginable. Hinata and Naruko traveled there in the excited evening air, past storefronts and chattering groups and couples, and up to Ichiraku's. A series of lit paper lanterns hung above a cloth hanging doorway announcing the ramen joint in paint: Ichiraku's.

Naruko charged through the cloth doorway on a cloud of excitement. Up close, Ichiraku's had a long, shining, polished wood and metal counter before vast open kitchens. The scent filling the entire place was warm, mouth watering, and delectable. Patrons sat on stools along the counter and watched their food being cooked. Then big bowls of ramen, filled with vegetables, meat, spices, and sauces, were set down before them and they got to work. It was considered sacrilege to talk before one finished their ramen. A plump old man named Teuchi was the cook, his thick apron splattered with ramen soup, his older teenage brunette daughter Ayame - curvy, smiley, and pretty - wore the white waitress's uniform.

"Teuchi-oji-san! Ayame-nee-chan!" Naruko shouted with enormous good cheer.

"Our best customer, the ramen fanatic!" Teuchi returned teasingly. "And her best friend, the only girl I know capable of besting her in an eating contest!"

"Hello, Teuchi-san," Hinata smiled, coming quieter through the door after Naruko.

"Someday. Someday I will defeat you." Naruko pointed dramatically and intensely at Hinata.

"You will not," said Hinata simply with a faint, smug smile.

Ayame laughed. "Sit down, girls. What'll it be?" They sat on stools and she came over with a notepad to take their order, one hip casually slung against the counter. "How's puberty treating you?" she asked Naruko, wrinkling her nose with affection, distaste, and sympathy. Ayame, though a civilian, was the one who had taught Naruko the most about things like periods and pregnancy. The Academy's version of sex ed was kind of pathetic.

Teuchi and Ayame had warmed up to Naruko over time. She'd made them cautious at first, but they'd given her a chance when she'd walked into their joint lured by the delicious smells and she'd proven as a younger child to be simply a very chattery and tomboyish little girl with a huge appetite for ramen. It was hard, Naruko supposed, to be intimidated by someone who openly worshipped the cooking ground you walked on.

"It sucks ass, dattebayo," said Naruko with feel. "It makes me want to punch people in the face but it also makes it harder for me to punch people in the face. There is no greater misery. I have to use tampons, kunoichi period kits, and one of those all day pain relievers. It's awful."

"La la la la la, I can't hear you! The soup is really loud!" Teuchi called from the kitchens.

"Well then here's something for you. Ayame-nee-chan, I'll take a pork and a miso. Teuchi-oji-san, fire up the karaoke machine and the DDR! I'm having fun tonight, dattebayo!" said Naruko, pounding the bar with a fist.

"That's the spirit," said Hinata comfortingly. "Nakodo-san told her she's not fit for a man," she muttered in explanation to Ayame.

"That _bitch_!" said Ayame in shock and indignation.

"If I had a son, Naruko, I would send him straight to you!" Teuchi said fiercely. "And if you want some DDR and karaoke, you've got it!" He stormed off to go set up the machines in the left and back portion of the shop, which had previously been darkened.

Naruko smiled. "Thanks, Teuchi-oji-san."

"Don't worry, Naruko," said Ayame. "I predict that someday you will be Hokage and prove that awful bitch totally wrong about everything. And you will have, like, ten husbands."

"You're a psychic now?" said Naruko slyly.

"Hell yeah I am," said Ayame firmly. "Ramen's on the house."

"Oh, but -" Naruko had already begun taking out her wallet, a little green toad whose mouth opened to hold money.

"Don't worry about it." Ayame waved her off. "You pay for at least half our bills each month anyway. Least we can do. Naruko-chan, I have a different question." Ayame seemed amused. "Why is your wallet a green toad?"

"Hey! Don't diss Gama-chan, dattebayo!" said Naruko defensively. "He's a money toad! The more money I have, the fatter the money toad gets. Someday, when I become Hokage, Gama-chan will be so fat he'll have to waddle when he walks," she declared.

"Well, the gods know I wouldn't want to disrespect the money toad," said Ayame, smiling.

Hinata seemed pleased behind Naruko. Her plan to get her best friend to feel better was going well. "I'll have shoyu," she said, and Ayame went off to place their orders.

Suddenly, the karaoke stage and the DDR machine near it both lit up. "Iiit's Ichiraku's Karaoke Night!" Teuchi called from the microphone on the bright stage, and all the patrons cheered.

Naruko and Hinata got first pick of every song, but the night was mostly for Naruko. She _adored_ dancing, singing, and the stage, being playful or acting the spazz, and karaoke and DDR were two of her favorite things in the whole entire world. They were almost on an equal level with ramen. Teuchi, she sometimes suspected, had started the DDR and karaoke nights at Ichiraku's at least inspired by her, if not directly for her.

She was playful and beaming on the karaoke stage, singing bubblegum pop songs, and she danced wildly on the DDR machine, winning against countless opponents, improvising moves. What was required most in either of these activities was a supreme self confidence in having fun and being in one's own body, and here Naruko shone like no other. In between, she wolfed down bowls of ramen on par with Hinata, the two of them racing one another toward the eating finish line, Ayame timing them, chanting and grinning. Naruko got shouting and competitive, cheering at every victory, moaning at every loss, infecting Hinata into wider smiles with her sheer energy.

Ichiraku's quickly swelled and for once no one seemed to mind Naruko. Everyone was too busy laughing and chattering, playing, acting out and having fun. The hot, sweating, people filled, cheering atmosphere of the crowd bordered on manic, the lights glowing yellow. Being around all those people - it was a high like no other.

Naruko and Hinata took stupid videos, silly photos, and weird face selfies together on their phones in between songs, dances, and bowls, photographic proof of the night.

When at last they left Ichiraku's, it was late at night. They walked together through the lantern lit streets, slow and languid, enjoying the night, laughing and chatting.

"Hey, Hinata," said Naruko at one point.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks," said Naruko, and she meant it.

Hinata smiled. "No problem."

They parted ways on the road just before Hinata's downtown, fancy Hyuuga clan compound. Naruko took the rest of the walk home alone, out of the village and toward the trees. At one point, she passed stiffly some slightly drunk men hanging around outside a bar, their faces flushed and their words slurred. They leered at her, and one made a grab for her ass.

In a flash, Naruko had snatched at his hand, twisted it, and broken it with a snap, inches away from her butt. Naruko's face twisted in a silent snarl as the man screamed and fell to the ground. She gave the terrified remaining men one last warning look, and continued out of the village into the cool, dim sanctuary of the trees.

That had been happening more lately - some of the prejudice against her turning sexual. Naruko was not overly worried. She was a ninja; she knew ten different kinds of chakra techniques and two different styles of taijutsu. She could handle herself.

She made it back to her home, slid off her sandals, and entered the living room. She should probably go to sleep, but she was still riding a wave of energy from the day behind her. She couldn't sleep.

So she decided to make another of her ASMR videos.

She entered her studio, got the lighting, microphones, and camera equipment ready, and sat down in front of her background - a long swathe of purple velvet cloth spangled with stars. She got all of her equipment ready, and turned the camera on.

"Hello," she whispered, smiling, tapping the table and smoothing over the cloth that covered it. "It's Mermaid here. This is a very brief, informal video, made on a whim, so please excuse me." That was her online moniker - Mermaid ASMR. She smacked her glossy lips. "Today will be -" She leaned into one mic, representing one earbud, and breathed. "A whisper video -" She leaned into the mic on the other side. "Showcasing nail art."

She sat back and smiled, then cut the camera. She moved the camera over her hands and nail polish, and turned it on again. As she whispered about her day and did her nails, the movements hypnotic, she calmed some and began to fall into a more serene state of mind. Her ASMR videos were gentler and more reflective than her daily persona, and Hinata always said they constantly surprised her. She took deep breaths, smacked her lips, and whispered and breathed secrets to the camera, all the while painting her nails with fanciful nail art. (After perfecting seals and seal theory, after the precision that came with painting or homemade science experiments, nail art was not hard.)

"So my graduation exam into the ninja forces is coming up in a month. I'm - a little nervous." She laughed softly, playfully. "Well, maybe more than a little nervous."

Nail art started with polishing the nails with color. Making them all slick and uniform.

"And today, a nakodo came in to tell us about marriage and husbands. I do not know why this was a part of ninja training. She said some not so nice things to me."

Next came sticking on the tiny ornaments using the polish.

"And it was very interesting to me. I sat back now and I'm thinking: Wow, you know? I was really upset. As girls, even when we don't want to, we attach so much importance to whether or not a boy likes us. Clearly it was important to my Sensei. And it was important to the other girls, and even though I didn't want it to be, it was important to me as well."

Nail glue used sparingly to touch things up.

"Luckily, I have a good best friend, who took me out on the town to make me feel better. She is very sweet to me. And I have some good friends at the restaurant we went to as well. So I am very thankful for kind people."

And finally, the thick layer of the top coat.

"But I think, sometimes, when we hurt ourselves or when we get hurt, the best thing we can do is to laugh and to reach out to other people. I have to keep believing in people, even when they treat me badly. Because, it's not good to hold all those feelings inside your heart, you know? It makes your chest very heavy. It makes you become very cold, like a frigid winter. So I smile and I laugh, and I reach out to people - even when some of them reject me. And it hurts when they reject me, but sometimes they don't, you know? And that's worth it to me. So I keep believing in people, and I am happy."

She admired her finished nails. They were pink and turquoise, with little glued-on pink flamingos, pink seashells, and golden pineapples.

"See?" she breathed, giggling. "All better and all done." She tapped the table again with her new nails. Then she cut the video, letting it fade out over the image of her nails later during the video editing stage. She'd get lots of comments later, a few rude and sexual, several admiring fans telling her anyone would be lucky to have her. It was either one extreme or the other. Such was the fickle nature of the Internet.

She let her nails completely dry and then decided to soak in a nice, relaxing, gentle bubble bath. Someday when she was an adult, she wanted to do these with red wine, but right now she settled for a soothing cup of tea. So it was time to turn on the stove, warm the water, pour it into the cup and the tea bag, let the tea steep sleepily in the kitchen.

Then she released her hair, which fell long, loose, straight, and golden around her waist. And she got undressed, padding into the bathroom in her towel. She turned on the bath to warm water, added some bubble bath scent - warm vanilla sugar, pretty as a peach, and love & sunshine were her favorites - took off her towel, and slipped naked into the bath. Her cup of brewed tea was warm beside the tub.

Damp, she wrapped her arms around her knees and gazed at the far wall, letting the steam bathe her, reflective. Maybe later, she would work on a seal puzzle in bed before sleep, to get her mind to completely shut down.

But for now, she just relaxed in the water.


	3. Chapter 3

3.

The entire class had gathered outside the appointed classroom on the day of the graduation exam a month later. It was not their usual classroom, but one randomly assigned for exam time. In addition to Umino Iruka, they would be proctored by a younger class's teacher, Touji Mizuki, who was supposed to guarantee neutrality.

Naruko bounced up to Hinata, grinning, shifting from foot to foot. "You ready to ace this?" Her voice was louder than usual. Some people gave her annoyed looks.

Hinata smiled. "Naruko-chan, you will pass," she assured her gently, seeing through the nervousness immediately.

Naruko paused, her smiling fading into something more tentative. "I've been studying old academic tests like crazy," she said. "And I've been training for ages but I still don't have the Clone Technique down."

"Relax," said Hinata. "We only have one practical exam. What are the odds it will be on the Clone Technique? I'm more worried about my pass." She winced.

"Nah, you got this in the bag," said Naruko casually. "You get amazing grades in everything. Don't let your Dad's voice in your head keep you from passing."

Hinata smiled. "Thanks."

Iruka opened the classroom door. "We are ready for you," he said, and pulled the door wide to let them through. The classroom was small and plain, just a series of wooden desks with chairs in long rows. They each sat down - Naruko beside Hinata - and Iruka began handing out written tests and pencils. Naruko could see Mizuki, a quiet young man with long white hair, standing motionless at the front of the room.

"You have forty-five minutes to complete the written portion of the graduation exam," Iruka called.

And in the stifling, deafening silence, swallowing, they began. Naruko looked over the questions, trying to take deep breaths, remain calm, analyze and answer the ones she knew. To her relief, most of the questions were from the previous tests she had studied. She answered as best she could, anxiously checked and double checked her answers - even as other students brought up their tests and she didn't, Sakura looking smug - then at last she put her name firmly at the top: Uzumaki Naruko.

She wrote her name in hiragana because she thought it looked cuter that way. She surrounded her name with smiley faces and hearts, because fuck it. She liked hearts, smiley faces, and glitter, and she wasn't going to let anybody shame her for that.

She finally took her test up to the front of the room, where Iruka was waiting expectantly at the teacher's desk before the blackboard. He took her test, looked it over answer by answer, then put the grade at the top: B. Naruko relaxed in weak relief, and Iruka gave her an amused, approving smile, nodding her back to her seat. Naruko sat back down, feeling elated, beginning to hope she had a chance of passing. Hinata and she exchanged a victorious thumbs up. They both had passed.

Then Iruka came up to the front of the class and said, "Forty five minutes. Finished or not, please turn your papers in." A few papers were shuffled to the front. "Mizuki-sensei will grade the final exams as the two of us go into the room connected to this one. We will call in students one at a time by the time when they finished the written test. There, if you passed the written test, you will be expected to perform the practical. One randomly selected ninjutsu will have to be shown to myself and Mizuki-sensei with a high level of skill.

"The ninjutsu selected this year is the Clone Technique."

Naruko barely processed as the two teachers moved into the adjacent classroom, her head spinning. "Shit. Shit. _Shit,"_ she gasped out, shaking, staring straight ahead of herself at the blurring, swimming blackboard -

"Naruko-chan, calm down," said Hinata with worried urgency. "It is vital that you remain calm, or you definitely won't pass."

Naruko took a deep breath. "This is even worse than that school rumor that I was knocked up with an alien baby," she said in a tiny voice.

"Naruko, you went along with that rumor," said Hinata in confusion.

"Yeah, well, you have to live your life, you know?" said Naruko.

"And that applies here," Hinata reminded her meaningfully.

"You're right," Naruko said, making an effort to soothe herself. **"** You're right. After passing Suzume-sensei's classes despite her hatred of me, after truly passing the first written exam of my life through sheer memorization and effort, I can't be failed just because they're testing us on the one thing I can't do. I can't allow myself to believe that will happen.

"I can do this," she whispered to herself in a pep talk. "I can do this because I have to."

"That's right," said Hinata, but she was frowning in concern. She sat with Naruko until she herself was called in. She came back out wearing a hitai-ate, the marker band that symbolized a true, graduated ninja, a blue cloth with a metal plate carved with the leaf symbol. In her case, she was wearing it tied around her neck like a kerchief. Different ninja showed off their graduation in different ways.

Naruko attempted a smile. "Good job," she said. "Congratulations."

"When you pass, you can wear your hitai-ate just like mine," said Hinata firmly. "We'll be twins. Just focus on that thought."

"Right," Naruko gasped out. "Focus."

"Uzumaki Naruko!"

"Yes?!" She stood quickly in a jerky, awkward movement, stumbling a little. The class laughed and heated flush crept up Naruko's neck and into her face.

"Come with me," said Iruka, exasperated, and Naruko followed him sheepishly into the next room. It was small, a long table piled with new hitai-ate cutting it in half. Iruka sat behind the table alongside Mizuki. Naruko was suddenly very aware of their own hitai-ate, and their dark green flak vests, which signaled an upper level Konoha ninja.

Stay calm. Stay strong. Picture being twins with Hinata.

Naruko would do this. She had to.

"Please present us with the Clone Technique," said Iruka, raising his eyebrows, and Naruko realized she was just standing there. Right.

She did a stance, made the correct hand seals quickly, formed a strong, steady amount of chakra - and then she focused her entire being on trying to control it as best she could. "Clone Technique!" she called, letting the tingling chakra flow from her hands and out into the world around her.

She paused, and looked around…

She had made one clone. It lay still on the floor, pale and pathetic, its glassy eyes staring straight ahead. It was near death. She felt something in her stomach drop like a stone, and had the strangest urge to laugh. What was wrong with her?

"You fail!" Iruka snapped, going back to his usual scowl, and she saw him write an F on the clipboard sheet. A moment ago, her insides had been heavy, but now she didn't seem to have any insides at all.

"Iruka-sensei, have some compassion," said Mizuki softly. "Her stance was superb, her hand seals were quick and good, her chakra stamina was amazing - and she did replicate." Mizuki leaned forward with quiet earnestness. "Perhaps we could pass her?"

Wild hope leaped into Naruko's heart, only to be brutally crushed again by Iruka's next words. She should have known. She had never gotten any sympathy from Umino Iruka before.

"Mizuki-sensei, this was an incredibly lax exam, and I'm testing them for battle readiness," said Iruka, frowning. "That is not battle ready. Everyone else managed at least three workable clones. Naruko created a single near-dead one. I can't pass that. The test said the student had to successfully replicate. Naruko didn't."

And Naruko wanted to say so many things. She wanted to say that she could do everything else in the curriculum to perfection, that she'd by some miracle passed the written exam, that she'd mastered the Water Weaving Fist, that she could do Wind and Water ninjutsu, that her bloodline ability gave her supernatural powers of longevity and healing to both herself and others, that her clan had their very own advanced sensory type technique using their huge chakra, and that she'd mastered sealing techniques.

But none of that mattered. Because Naruko couldn't replicate.

* * *

She only registered that she'd just wandered past her class out of the classroom, without a hitai-ate in full view of everyone, when she was sitting on the tree swing out in the front courtyard. There was no smiling this time, no humming or laughter, no waving the problem away. No tears either. She thought she might be in shock. She just sat there.

Then the parents started turning up. The families. The older siblings. One group by one group, they gathered together in the courtyard, talking excitedly. And then the doors threw themselves open and the cheering children sprinted out to meet their parents.

Every one of them had passed. She was the only one who hadn't.

Students were hugged and lifted into the air, chatting together, laughing and victorious. Mothers promised special dinners. Fathers said they were proud - it was exactly as expected from their precious child.

Naruko sat alone. The chasm between herself and everyone else had never felt so enormous.

Hinata came over tentatively. "... Naruko-chan?" She looked between Naruko and everyone else. "My clan guard should be here in a few minutes. I wish my family were here in person too."

Naruko let out a forced, humorless laugh. "You think I wish my parents were here? Exactly the opposite. I wouldn't want them to have to face up to their child being such a fucking failure." The words were bitter, a tone she had never tasted in her mouth before.

Hinata frowned. "You know, Naruko-chan, when you left the classroom. No one was happy that you failed. And no one blamed or judged you either."

Suddenly, they heard two mothers talking from the crowd a ways away, glaring coldly at Naruko from the edge of the group. "Hey. The one the Hyuuga is nice enough to be talking to. That's _the_ kid. She's the only one who failed."

"Well, I certainly wouldn't want my child talking to her! Thank goodness she didn't pass. If she became a ninja, it would only be more trouble. She would ruin everything. After all, she's -"

"Quiet!" the first mother hissed. "You know it's forbidden to speak any more than that!"

Naruko felt a strange smile stretch her face. Suddenly, she felt tired. "That's where you're wrong, Hinata-chan," she said. "The only person who wanted me to become a ninja is you.

"Congratulations. You'll have to move on without me. Make sure to visit. I don't suppose I'll be allowed back into the Academy anymore."

"Naruko-chan -!"

"What? Give me _one_ sentence of that which isn't true."

And again, Hinata was lost for words.

"It's over, Hinata. I lost." Naruko stood. "I was always in the process of losing. It just took me six years and a failed graduation exam to admit it."

"Naruko?" They both looked around. Mizuki was standing there. "Can I talk to you privately?"

Naruko paused briefly, but she didn't suppose she had anything better to do. "See you later, Hinata-chan," she said over her shoulder, her voice still strangely flat, and she followed Touji Mizuki off campus. Hinata fell slowly behind her.

Mizuki led them to a quiet, flat rooftop overlooking the sunset. They leaped up to the roof in a ninja move and sat themselves there, legs dangling over the edge. It was a weirdly romantic scene, but somehow Naruko didn't think that had been Mizuki-sensei's point. He talked quietly, watching the sunset instead of the failed student beside him.

"You know. Iruka's an orphan too."

"... Wonderful," said Naruko at last. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything," said Mizuki. "He wants you to prove yourself in the right way, to become truly strong. That's why he's so harsh with you."

"Well, that's fantastic," Naruko sighed. "But all he really ended up doing in the end is screwing me over. I'm so glad he had noble intentions, though. Somehow that makes everything better."

"Cut the attitude."

"Why? It's not like you're my teacher anymore, or even my ninja rank superior. I'm just some civilian who knows how to fight."

"You really wanted to pass, didn't you?" Mizuki asked, looking over at her at last with a frown.

"I wanted to -? You don't get it. You know everyone hates me, Mizuki-sensei. Everybody does! But the one shot I had - the one person the entire village has to respect - is a powerful ninja. Even a Hokage. Without my dream… what's really the point of anything anymore? What do I have? A best friend who's moving on into a life and new friends I will never get to experience. A lonely single house in the middle of nowhere. A village full of people who hate me. No significant life skills, outside of maybe becoming a geisha, or a gardener, or a chef. And a couple of civilians who kind of like me and might be willing to take me in.

"I mean, what do I even do? I could start a dojo! Try to teach little civilian kids hand to hand skills. Hope to God someone wants to learn from me. In fact, that applies to everything. People don't even like _touching_ me, Mizuki-sensei. Who would want me to entertain them? Who would want to eat my meal? Who would want me anywhere near their house? For that matter, who would want to marry me?

"I mean, what the hell, exactly, would you like me to do? What kind of attitude am I supposed to have? What would you like me to say? What, you want me to try to get back into the Academy? Beg on bended knee so I can go start out again as that stupid twelve year old learning in a class full of eight year olds? I didn't even like school in the first place. I'd suffocate there.

"I'm sorry, Mizuki-sensei, if I seem a little temperamental. My deepest apologies. Because my entire fucking life just fell apart."

Naruko stopped, taking deep breaths. She realized she was on the verge of choking tears, and never before had she despised her own emotions so thoroughly. That was what she was going to do now? Cry? Was that all she ever did? What did she think she was in, a soap opera? Crying never fixed anything. She should know that by now.

"And now I'm going to cry," she muttered, looking away. "Which will fix absolutely nothing. Fantastic." She looked away from Mizuki-sensei.

"Naruko… what if I told you that you could still pass this?"

Naruko paused, and looked around. "What." It came out as more of an angry, confused statement than a question.

Mizuki smiled. "There's a secret test," he said. "A last ditch one for desperate cases. How would you like to try that one? It's a little more practical. It involves stealth, breaking and entering. How good are you at that, Naruko?"

That was it. It was her last shot. Stealth, breaking and entering, she could do. And that was the only reason why she said fiercely:

"I'll take it."

* * *

Naruko landed that night in the dark forest clearing next to the old shack that was the abandoned spy outpost. Moonlight gleamed through the leaves, spattering the forest floor. Finding this place had not been hard. Naruko knew these outskirt forests like the back of her hand.

Strangely? Stealing the scroll had not been hard either. Memorizing and working around the guard shifts, a bit of jumping, sliding hand over hand around the corner and to the wall next to the window, jimmying the window open, flitting into the Hokage's office, finding the scroll and strapping the giant length of it to her back, flitting back out of the window and across the rooftops at the guard change signal -

No, stealing this scroll of jutsu had not been difficult. No wonder it only made for a Genin rank exam.

Now to learn a jutsu from it. She plunked herself down in the dirt, took out the scroll, broke the seal fearlessly, and unfurled it, looking it over. When she was sitting down, it was as tall as she was, forbidding black characters written top to bottom all along its length. She leaned forward, squinting, in the moonlight. "First technique: Shadow Clone Technique. Makes physical copies of the user with all their power and abilities. So, as in, not Academy afterimages? Huh. Damn technique is my worst one and it's following me around everywhere.

"Wait." She grinned. "This could be perfect. When Iruka and Mizuki get here, I can show them I _can_ replicate after all! That way they'll _have_ to pass me!" She leaped to her feet. "Ha! VICTORY IS MINE!" An owl flew out of a tree nearby and she ducked her head, sheepish, as the shout echoed.

"Okay. Now to master the jutsu."

She had to do this in under two hours. That was what Mizuki had said. This was it. Do or die, she had to learn this technique. She leaned forward to read the hand seals on the scroll.

* * *

Like clockwork, roughly two hours later someone was fast approaching her clearing. She felt it through the Uzumaki sensory technique, Mind's Eye of Kagura, which threw the massive Uzumaki chakra stores in a great arc around them and allowed them to sense everything within those boundaries. She could feel someone approaching - Iruka, she decided. And he was running. His chakra was panicked.

Confused but interested, Naruko rolled up the scroll and strapped it to her back once more. She'd been working hard, was covered in dirt and sweat, but she was sure she had it down: the Mass Shadow Clone Technique.

Iruka dropped from the tree branches into the clearing, and Naruko strolled over to him, pleased. "Excellent. Iruka-sensei - I'm going to show you a technique from this scroll, and then you'll pass me, okay?"

"I'll pass you - who told you I'd pass you if you learned a technique from this scroll?" Iruka wondered, straightening.

"Mizuki-sensei. He told me everything," Naruko admitted. "About the scroll, this place. Don't be too hard on him, Iruka-sensei! He was trying to help me -"

But she paused. Iruka's eyes were wide and his face was pale; a look of horror had crossed his features.

"Iruka-sensei?" Naruko wondered, softer and more cautious. Then her eyes widened. Damnit! She'd been so distracted she hadn't realized -! "Iruka-sensei, behind you!" she shouted suddenly.

But Iruka had already moved. He shoved Naruko to the ground and took the full brunt of the attack himself. Kunai and shuriken ate into his arms and legs and he was thrown backward into the spy outpost wall. One of his legs was injured - he probably couldn't move properly.

"I'm surprised you found this place." Smirking, Mizuki emerged from the trees. He had two giant shurikens strapped to his back. Why would Mizuki attack Iruka? And why was he surprised that Iruka had found the place for the final exam?

"So that's how it is," Iruka spat, still conscious but bleeding heavily.

"Naruko. Give me the scroll." Colder now, Mizuki held out his hand.

"Don't do it, Naruko! That's a scroll of forbidden jutsu! There is no secret test; Mizuki lied to you!" Iruka forced out through his pain, and there was true hatred in his voice. "He used you to try and get his hands on a powerful scroll! He was probably planning on killing you here."

Naruko stood, glaring at Mizuki but also cautious. Two of her teachers had just turned on each other, both of them were of a much higher rank than her, and she wasn't sure what was going on, how she could protect herself, or who to believe. She realized that in all her years learning under Iruka, she didn't know even his ninja alliances or abilities.

"Naruko! Iruka's lying; he's just afraid of you having the scroll," said Mizuki dismissively.

"Mizuki's lying; Naruko, don't listen to him!" Iruka said in a panic.

"Perfect," said Naruko distinctly. "That clears things right up." They were both on edge, too, though neither of them looked it. Her Mind's Eye could tell her that. Fucking ninja, thought the girl who wanted to become one.

Mizuki seemed exasperated. "Look, Naruko. I'm going to do you a favor and do something no one's ever done before. I'm going to tell you the truth."

"No! Mizuki!" said Iruka in a sudden panic.

But Mizuki plowed on, increasingly delighted, a sick, fanatical gleam appearing in his eyes. "You see, Naruko, we all know the story. The fox demon attacked Konoha twelve years ago. The valiant Fourth Hokage died defeating it and the whole village was saved. But how was the demon defeated?

"They never told you that, did they?

"You see, the Fourth didn't kill the demon. He just gave it a different form. And after the attack was over, the Third Hokage - our current Hokage, who came back out of retirement - passed a decree. A law. Part of the law, Naruko, was that you were never allowed to find out about it. No one of your generation or younger was. But most particularly, the law applied to you. It even mentioned you by name. You want to know what it was?"

"Mizuki, stop it!" Iruka spat, looking disgusted and appalled at Mizuki's slowly revealing joy almost as much as he was afraid.

"Tell me!" said Naruko suddenly. "Tell me what the law was!"

"The law is that no one in Konoha is ever allowed to talk about one singular fact. And that fact is that you, Naruko, are a new incarnation of the nine-tailed fox demon." Mizuki's eyes gleamed in triumph as the full realization hit Naruko.

She'd first read about jinchuriki when she was nine. She'd been going through Uzumaki special seals scrolls, and she'd come upon this one. It read:

 _Jinchuriki - Humans who have a demon placed within a containment seal somewhere on their body. The human's chakra and the demon's chakra are connected. The human can if it chooses use the demon in battle, or even unseal it. Demonic power controlled through a human element. Often used by villages as sentient, walking weapons. The stronger the human's chakra, the more likely they are to survive a demon being sealed within them. Someone as strong as an Uzumaki might even be able to survive a demon being pulled back out._

She'd been born the day of the fox demon attack - the day her whole family had died. The whisker shaped markings on her cheeks. Her unusually sharp incisor teeth. Now it all made sense. The seal must be invisible-until-visible, triggered by something like chakra usage. She'd tattooed many such seals upon herself over the years. Never had she dreamed she'd already had one.

She clutched her hara - her navel - underneath her dress, the chakra center, the place the seal had to be.

"In other words, you are the demon who killed all those people! You wrought all that destructive damage! You even killed Iruka's parents! He was ten. Why would he want you to have a scroll of power? You never thought it was weird," Mizuki sneered, "the way everyone hated you so much?"

It wasn't her family. It was never about her family. It was far more personal than that. She realized she could see chakra glowing around her form. She must look upset, she realized distantly. She must be upset.

At least the chakra was blue instead of red.

Because it hit her, then. Mizuki was technically incorrect. She didn't do it. The thing sealed inside her did. She wasn't a demon anymore than a storage scroll was a kunai. Why was that depressing?

Because it meant - no matter the easily readable facts - that everyone probably saw her this way. Probably always had. Even the children. Did they think "demon" when they looked at her? No. Did they trust her when they looked at her? … Also no. They'd spent their entire lives eating up prejudice, maybe without realizing it.

And now what they expected her to do was figure out how to release the seal and use the scroll of forbidden jutsu to take her revenge out on Konoha. Right?

That was what upset her. Because in reality… she was going to do nothing of the kind. But how did a person even begin to prove themselves to a whole village full of people who were paranoid of being murdered at the first opportunity? Her dream of becoming a ninja and a Hokage… not only was it still up in flames, but had it ever been possible at all?

Yes, she'd won over a couple of civilians, and she'd won over Hinata. Hinata, who didn't know. Hinata, who was ignored by her family. But as far as Iruka was concerned, she'd murdered his parents when he was ten. Everyone in power was like him.

And how did she change that?

And if she didn't have that, why did she exist?

"No one will ever recognize you, you delusional monster!" Mizuki spat. "Iruka's not the hero in this story! Has he ever been nice to you? Iruka hates you just as much as everyone else! Anyone would hate you, if they knew! Do you think the magnificent Hyuuga clan lost no one when the demon attacked? How do Hinata's older relatives seem to feel about you?" He smiled slowly.

 _"Hinata-sama!"_

 _The two of them whirled around. A man Naruko would learn later was Hinata's clan retainer for the day, a tall dark-haired man with silvery Hyuuga eyes, was standing there, furious and thunderstruck._

 _"Y-yes?" said Hinata, puzzled but instinctively cringing at any sign of anger. It was a very peculiar mix on her round face._

 _"You must not speak to this thing! Come with me!" He stormed over and hurried her away, even as Hinata struggled, looking back over her shoulder._

 _"But - wait - she saved me -!"_

 _"It doesn't matter. Come."_

"Die, Naruko!" Mizuki spun a giant shuriken straight at her, intending to cleave her in half. And in that moment, there was no one for Naruko, no one to save her. She was alone. She watched the silver whirr toward her -

And she did not move. She just stood there.

 _"Naruko, duck!"_ Iruka's voice. Instinctively, Naruko did just a little - and then Iruka had shoved her to the ground and taken the attack himself. Naruko lay there, stunned, Iruka crouched above her, his hands on the ground. A giant shuriken ate into his back, but that was not why he was crying.

For he was crying. Great tears were running from his eyes and down his face. Blood and tears fell onto Naruko's face as she lay there below him.

Finally, one word made itself known, the only word she could think of: "Why?" Why a lot of things. First and foremost: Why are you crying, and why would you bother to save me?

"Because you're a lot like me," he whispered. "After my parents died… there was no one left for me. No one to recognize, or treat me like a person. When I was a good student and an obedient pupil, no one at school ever paid any attention to me. So I was the class clown, the rebellious boy. If I acted out and played the idiot… it wasn't a good kind of attention, but it was attention at least, right? It was very lonely.

"And you, Naruko. You're the weird girl, but that's what's behind it. On some level… you're lonely. You do these things to be recognized. And I didn't figure it out until just now. Behind every rebellious class clown is someone wanting to be recognized as a person worth seeing. And behind every quirky, weird girl… is someone who wants to be recognized as an individual. That day with the nakodo - Suzume-sensei told me about it later. You wore that outfit and did those things, hoping to be recognized. When you weren't, you ran out crying… and I turned you away. I continually, for years, turned away the person who was most like me. All out of some stupid, meaningless grudge.

"I'm sorry, Naruko. All this, these past four years…" He was sobbing. "None of it would have had to happen if I'd realized sooner."

It was uncomfortable, Naruko realized, for something to impact with her so spot-on. Iruka was right, whether or not he realized it. All her life, Naruko had been trying to be seen as an individual worth recognizing. And here was someone, sobbing as he told her he'd noticed.

At the same time… wasn't the timing just so very convenient? She had no idea what was going on in Umino Iruka's head.

Mizuki scoffed and walked up behind them. "Naruko, you know the truth. Iruka's just afraid of you possessing that scroll. The whole story makes me laugh; you killed his parents. Okay? He wants the scroll back. Do you really think he's going to defend you against Hokage-sama once he has it?"

Mizuki may have been a gigantic dickweed, but he had a damn good point. But there was one way Naruko could think of. One way she'd know for sure.

She leaped to her feet and ran off into the trees, ignoring Iruka's calls after her. He'd get his time. If she was right… Mizuki would go after her before Iruka, so Iruka would go after her before Mizuki. And that was where things got interesting.

Sure enough, they both followed her - Iruka unevenly because of his injuries.

She knew these forests and they didn't. Advantage one. She could use her Mind's Eye and make it so she was just out of their range. Advantage two.

So she did. She ran an aimless path through the darkest parts of the forests, taking random twists and turns, sensing whenever either ninja became too close. She got out of their sensing range at last, leaped down into a well-hidden bush, and perched inside there in meditation position, closing her eyes but broadening her chakra. And thus seeing more than her eyes could ever show.

She'd never stretched her Uzumaki size chakra reserves so far before, so this should be one hell of an experiment.

As to be expected from two Academy teachers, they both used the Academy Transformation Technique to perfection. Mizuki turned into Iruka. Iruka turned into Naruko. "Mizuki-as-Iruka" found and approached "Iruka-as-Naruko." "Iruka-as-Naruko" attacked "Mizuki-as-Iruka." They both turned back into themselves in a forest clearing, and as far as she could tell, began talking. Their mouths were moving at any rate. She realized why - Iruka was still bleeding, and out of chakra, and they both knew it.

Naruko opened her eyes. Both were distracted. Neither were expecting her. Now was her chance.

She darted through the trees, taking a shortcut no one else would know about until she stealthily crept up to the clearing Iruka and Mizuki were talking in. She hid there, listening. When she was not around, what would they say?

"You're really protecting the thing that killed your parents?" Mizuki was asking disbelievingly.

"I'm not letting an idiot like you get that scroll," said Iruka fiercely.

So they were fighting each other. Iruka found Mizuki having the scroll worse than Naruko having the scroll.

"Idiot. That demon bitch is the same as me. She'll use the scroll to take her revenge on the village, not that I care," said Mizuki scathingly. "You saw those eyes, didn't you? Before she ran away? They were the eyes of a monster fox."

"... Maybe you're right. That could be true," said Iruka at last.

Naruko slumped for a moment, defeated. Then she rallied. She took up the scroll and prepared to venture her way with it, past the wall and out of the village. It was the only thing left to do. Run. Then Iruka spoke again.

" _If_ she were a demon fox. But she's not." There was a smile in Iruka's voice. "I've known Naruko four years, Mizuki, and she's a lot of things. She's a strange, random, eccentric loudmouth who constantly surprises everyone, but she's not a killer. Naruko is not going to willfully use that scroll to hurt anyone. She doesn't always succeed, and everyone gives her such a hard time. But she has known pain, and that will make her strong.

"She is not the fox demon. She is my prized student that I recognize. She is Uzumaki Naruko of Konoha!" he finished stoutly.

Naruko was crying. It was embarrassing, but she was. The snotty, runny-makeup kind of crying. Not exactly pretty.

Then she heard Mizuki say testily, "You know, I was going to kill you last, Iruka, but you're getting annoying and I've changed my mind. You can just go right ahead and die right now!"

Naruko wiped her face and flew out from her position, landing in front of Iruka as the giant shuriken came flying toward her again. This time, she held out palm and channeled chakra. A containment release seal appeared. The attack was sucked up inside the seal, and gone.

Then she turned her hand and released the giant shuriken again, right back at Mizuki.

It flew past his head, and he smirked. "HA -!" he began, and then the giant shuriken caught his vest from behind and pinned him against the nearest tree with a startled yelp.

"Idiot," said Naruko, smirking. "Iruka-sensei, I apologize," she called back idly over her shoulder. "I did have clan abilities. The Uzumaki were a foreign clan who moved to Konoha. I've been hiding my skills from you. I'm sorry, I haven't exactly been truthful.

"But I heard what you said. You are now under my official protection. Anyone who ever touches a hair on your head gets ripped limb from limb. And unfortunately, Mizuki, you qualify."

She made a hand seal.

"Mass Shadow Clone Technique!"

Suddenly, in a blur of orange, hundreds of clones filled the clearing. They surrounded Mizuki on all sides, on the ground, in tree branches, everywhere. They filled the dark clearing, between hair and clothes, with gleaming brightness.

"Chakra control was my problem, Iruka-sensei," said Naruko, smiling at Iruka's silent, stunned expression. "Not chakra power, yes? It's an Uzumaki thing. I'll explain later. First! Hold him down."

Two Naruko clones made hand seals. "Water Whip Technique!" Water appeared from the air, a signature Uzumaki move. Two whips of water lashed out from either side of the clearing, wrapping around Mizuki, tearing him away from the giant shuriken, and leaving him hanging there in the air.

"Wait! Wait! What are you doing?!" He struggled.

"Cut his arms and legs," said Naruko flatly.

Two more clones called out, "Wind Knife Technique!" and cut Mizuki's limbs as he screamed so they were useless.

"Pull his arms and legs out of their sockets."

Clones went to work, ripping Mizuki's arms and legs out of their sockets as he screamed louder.

"Mizuki. I want to make sure you can still see me." Naruko lifted his head up by the chin. He stared at her in blind, sweating, shaking, incoherent fear. Naruko's face twisted in a snarl. "Nobody - but nobody - calls me demon bitch. Fuck you, too, asshole!"

She reared her fist back, and punched him so hard across the face he passed out, cold cocking him in a single blow.

Then she stepped back. "Wow," she said brightly, "that feels better! Okay, girls, take it away!" She jumped backward, waving her arms in the air. The Naruko clones cheered as they went at Mizuki, beating the ever loving crap out of him - just for good measure.

"I have my own style of taijutsu," Naruko told Iruka informationally, "Water Weaving Fist. It involves quick, devastating attacks to vital areas. Pretty incredible for situations like this. I'll wait till they're done and then heal him."

Iruka was still silent with shock.

"Oh, in the meantime, see these?!" She channeled chakra and seal tattoos appeared along her arms and legs. "Chakra augmentation and control seals. I've done whole, like, tattoo reveal videos."

"Videos?!"

"... Never mind. Anyway, that's how I had the chakra strength to figure out how find you! I have a sensory technique."

"Anything else?" Iruka asked disbelievingly.

"Uh… well…" Naruko thought about it, staring upward airily, finger to her lips. "There are seal barriers, which are shields and domes. Seal trap tags for traps. And… oh! I can slap a chakra suppression seal on someone just by touching them. I can do both touch placement sealing and touch removal sealing. And then there's sealing chains for entrapping massive chakra beings.

"Oh! And I can use Wind and Water ninjutsu together, when I want to!"

"Anything _else_?" Iruka asked again. "Is there anything else I should know about in the one student I didn't pass?" He was starting to look annoyed.

Naruko laughed nervously. "Uh. I think that's it for now. Oh look! They're done!" The clones were dissipating. Naruko walked forward - and paused. "Hey, I just got all the memories of beating up Mizuki," she said, disoriented. Then she beamed. "Neat!"

"You mean, for ninja purposes?" Iruka asked, bewildered.

"No, that means I get all the memories of beating the crap out of each person whose day I ruin! Isn't that _cool_? Oh, and I bet I get to learn what it's like to die! Wow, wouldn't that be neat?" said Naruko enthusiastically.

"Naruko, I recognize you, I recognize you. Go heal Mizuki." Iruka waved her off, exasperated.

Naruko paused, beamed, and trotted over to the ruins of Mizuki. She leaned over. "Yup, still breathing!" she said cheerfully. Then she paused. "Hey - should I heal all his wounds?"

"Uh… maybe if you can, leave the stuff that means he can't use his limbs," said Iruka nervously.

"Roger dodger!" Naruko stuck out her arm, put it in Mizuki's mouth, and had him bite down. Healing seals on her body suddenly glowed, and she carefully controlled which things her chakra moved into his body to heal. "I can do this to myself, too!" she called out informatively. "I bite myself and chakra floods my body to heal me!"

At last, Mizuki was completely healed except for the cuts to his arms and legs.

"The medic nin at the prison can fix those," said Naruko, smirking, standing to her feet. "Anyway, we'd better get this scroll back to Grandpa Hokage. Thank God I have you here to vouch for me. You okay, Iruka-sensei?"

She walked over and knelt down before him in concern.

Iruka smiled. "For a heavily injured man, I'm actually pretty good," he confirmed. "Naruko, close your eyes. I want to give you something."

"Uh… okay." Naruko closed her eyes, confused but curious. She felt her hand opened - and something placed inside it. It was kind of heavy, half cloth and half metal, a bit long…

Wait. No way. She opened her eyes.

Iruka had taken off his very own hitai-ate, and placed it in her hand. "Congratulations, graduate," he said, smiling.

Naruko just knelt there, staring at him, thunderstruck.

"Well, I have no reason not to pass you," he said, shrugging. "You passed the academic test through great personal effort, you do have clan abilities, and you can replicate. You can even break and enter. And you did nothing wrong. Hey, how about this? You like ramen, right? Ichiraku's is still open. How about a late night celebratory dinner? I knew you could do it," he told her, leaning forward with effort, winking.

She wasn't sure if he knew. Maybe as an orphan and an Academy teacher, he did. That was the kind of stuff… the parents said every year at graduation.

Naruko's lip trembled - and she flung herself at Iruka in a hug, even as he cried out. And she totally wasn't crying again. Really honestly.

* * *

When they appeared at the Hokage's doorstep, a Naruko clone leaning Iruka by the shoulders and Naruko herself dragging the massive Mizuki over her shoulder like a war trophy, the Hokage himself was waiting for them. He was a tiny old man with a wizened brown face, a silver goatee, and a pipe in his mouth. He always wore the traditional red and white robes, and smelled of wood smoke.

"Sorry, Grandpa, I -" Naruko began, handing the scroll back.

"Hokage-sama, she -!" Iruka began earnestly.

"I know. I know. Mizuki." The Hokage held up a hand. "Mizuki will be sent to prison and the scroll is back in my possession. All is forgiven."

ANBU Black Ops in black body armor and animal masks jumped down, grabbed Mizuki and the scroll, and leaped away.

"Grandpa," said Naruko, relaxing, "how do you know so many things?"

The Hokage smiled. "I never tell," he promised. "But let's just say, Naruko, that it's a good thing I like you." Naruko held up her pinkie and grinned, miming a string being wrapped around the finger. "Yes, yes. Iruka, go to the hospital. I know, ramen," he said when Iruka opened his mouth. "You go to the hospital, I talk to Naruko. Then after that, you go meet the Ichirakus and Hyuuga Hinata for ramen."

"Hinata -?" Naruko began, surprised.

"I happened to run into her this evening," said the Hokage in equal indignant surprise. "What are the odds?"

Naruko beamed.

"So, Hokage-sama… does that mean my decision to make Naruko a ninja… is upheld?" said Iruka uncertainly.

The Hokage rose feathery grey eyebrows. "Iruka, you are the instructor. The gods know I would never gainsay you," he said earnestly. "And as she was deceived by a superior, no crime has been committed, so why would I?" Iruka relaxed. Naruko smiled, took his hitai-ate, and tied it around her neck like a kerchief. She smiled down at it, her whole inner being lit, as if by a candle. The hitai-ate was beat up, but Naruko would never give it up. Not for anything. "Hospital. Go. She will meet you at the restaurant."

An ANBU jumped down and helped Iruka away.

"Naruko. Come with me." Naruko followed him slowly into the vast, wooden, red-roofed council building and upstairs to his office. It was a vast, gold-gilded, mahogany desk with calligraphy scrolls on the walls. Grandpa Hokage sat down, windows behind him, and Naruko sat down across the desk from him. Behind his figure, the lights of Konoha gleamed in the quiet.

"Iruka made me believe," she realized. "He made me believe that if I can prove myself to him, I can prove myself to other people as well. I can be Hokage."

The Hokage steepled his fingers. "That road will be hard," he said.

"I know," she returned, determined.

The Hokage smiled. "... But I think your parents would be proud of you for having it." Naruko's eyes widened with wonder. "I do have to tell you, after all this, do I not?

"The Uzumaki are cousins of the Senju - Konoha's founding clan. There used to be a tradition, wherein an Uzumaki would be sent to be Konoha's jinchuriki, as a sign of diplomatic faith between Uzu and Konoha. Why did you never hear about this? Because it was an S class secret. Your mother, Uzumaki Kushina, was the last fox demon jinchuriki sent before Uzu was destroyed. She brought all her clan scrolls with her, which is how we still have copies.

"You've never noticed? The Uzumaki swirl symbol is on every single Konoha high rank Chunin vest. Middle back. This is because the Uzumaki are heroes, who have done our village a great service by housing the demon that once lived on our land.

"Your mother went on to marry the young and handsome Fourth Hokage, Konoha's Golden Flash. He is your father. Their pregnancy was kept a well-guarded secret, because labor weakens the jinchuriki seal and back then bubbles were not available.

"Kushina was taken out of the village for the birth. The demon escaped despite every precaution. She and your father, Namikaze Minato, died sealing the demon inside the only Uzumaki left - you."

"I… I thought my Dad didn't want me," Naruko said, tears filling her eyes.

"Quite the contrary," said the Hokage. "He wanted you too much. I saw it in him each and every time I talked to him. He was so excited to have a daughter.

"But I kept your father hidden, because he made many enemies in the Third War. He killed many opposing soldiers. I kept your parentage a secret for the same reason I made the decree - I was trying to protect you.

"The children don't know anything. The adults know only about the demon. You can tell anyone you want. The law does not apply to you." He sat back, finished.

Naruko nodded, looking down. "Thanks, Grandpa," she whispered. "It's nice, after all this time - just to know. I am Namikaze Uzumaki Naruko, and I am Konoha's nine tailed fox demon jinchuriki."

"Third, to be precise," said the Hokage, smiling. "Third jinchuriki. And, perhaps - future Hokage."

Naruko smiled.

* * *

She met a healed Iruka at Ichiraku's. As she walked down the road, and saw Iruka, Hinata, and the Ichirakus waving from the warm restaurant up ahead… she smiled and broke into a run.

Hinata looked delighted as she saw her friend running toward her, a twin hitai-ate tied around her neck.

Naruko didn't think she was ready to tell anyone yet. But someday - someday she would let everyone know who she was.


End file.
